A Civil Beat Investigation: In Hawaii’s workers’ comp system, people with long-lasting injuries are often forced to battle doctors hand-picked by insurance companies to get treatment and disability payments.

But Caldwell’s opponent in the mayoral race, Charles Djou, began pushing back on Thursday.

Hawaii Elections Guide 2016

• Stay plugged in to campaigns and candidates this election season with Civil Beat’s Hawaii Elections Guide 2016, your source for information on federal, state and local elections.

“We found it exceptionally curious to see Dennis Francis’ name on this list,” said Djou.

Djou said he takes Francis “at his word” that the publisher was not publicly backing the mayor.

But his campaign did a little digging and found only one person named Dennis Francis who was registered to vote in Hawaii — the one from the Star-Advertiser.

“So, if it’s a mistake and it’s not him, then who is it?” Djou asked. “Is this a fictitious person?”

He continued: “And if it is a real person, what is the Kirk Caldwell campaign doing to advertise someone who is not registered to vote in Hawaii? Is that the type of person they think people should look to follow?”

Here’s the full statement Smith released on Thursday afternoon:

The outreach to supporters asking them if they wanted their names included in an endorsement ad took place several weeks ago.Campaign volunteers designed an electronic email program which automatically accepted and uploaded submissions into the document.The outreach also included Facebook, where anyone could submit their names.It is unfortunate that this system cannot track details of any of the submissions.

The campaign was alerted early Sunday about the name ‘Dennis Francis’, and we deny an intentional claim of his endorsement or support.Quite the contrary, when his name was pointed out, we apologized to the publisher of the Star-Advertiser for any possible confusion which he graciously accepted.

The volunteers did catch a few questionable submissions and they were deleted.We condemn anyone who may have intentionally placed a name to embarrass our campaign.

The Star-Advertiser endorsed Caldwell for the primary, and the newspaper is currently in the process of making endorsements for the general election.

The Star-Advertiser has also received money from the Caldwell’s campaign for advertising — including Sunday’s two-page color spread.

There are now 12 days until Nov. 8.

Get engaged! Join in the discussion of candidates and issues in the 2016 elections in our new Facebook Group, Civil Beat Politics. Connect with others and learn how to get involved in community issues that are central to this year’s elections.

Sign up for our FREE morning newsletter and face each day more informed.

Sign up for our FREE morning newsletter and face each day more informed.

Sorry. That's an invalid e-mail.

Thanks! We'll send you a confirmation e-mail shortly.

And don't worry, we hate spam too! You can unsubscribe any time.

The only news outlet in Hawaii dedicated to public affairs reporting.
Our mission is to engage and educate the community on important public issues through in-depth reporting, explanatory and investigative journalism, analysis and commentary.

Best Overall News Site

Civil Beat has been named the best overall news site in Hawaii for the 7th year in a row by the Society of Professional Journalists Hawaii Chapter.